Machine for cleaning cotton and like material.



J. OCONNELL.

MACHINE lFON CLEANING coIIoN'ANn LIKE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2. 19H- '1N VEN TOR. Alpi/m mzzzeZZ. BY Z f- ATTORNE YS.

J. ocoNNELLI MACHINE FOR CLEANING COTTON AND LIKE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 27| 1911.

Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

NVENTOR.

J. OCONNELL.

MACHINE FOR CLEANING COTTON AND LIKE MATERIAL. APPLICATION FILED MAR.27. I9I7.

" 1,284,922. PaIenIed Nov. 12,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W I TNESSES N V EN TOR,

A TTORNE YS.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEioE.

JOHN OCONNELL, OF COHOES, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 LOUIS A. AUMANN, 0FCHICOPEE, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOB, CLEANING COTTON AND LIKE MATERIAL.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 12, 1918.

Application led March 27, 1917. Serial No. 157,603. j

fiber and the like, for example. The cotton' o eners, breakers, pickers,and finishing pickers are illustrative examples of machines -in whichthe invention may be embodied.

Although the inventionis capable of general application to any and allmachines for cleaning cotton ber and the like, it will be describedmerely in one of its specific uses, namely, in connection with la cottonopener, for the purposes of illustration. My prior Patent No. 602,265,granted April 12, 1898,

-is an illustrative example of the prior art in cotton openers.

An object of the invention is to provide in a machine for cleaningcotton and the like means whereby the dust and lint removed in mixedcondition from the cotton1 fibers may be separated, so that the usefullint may be reclaimed.

l Another object of the invention is to provide in a machine lforcleaning cotton and the like means to separate the mixed dust andlintremoved from the cotton fibers, together with means to carry the lint,thus separated, to and mix it with the cotton fibers, the constructionbeing characterized by the, reclamation and utilization of the 'lintheretofore wasted.

Another object of the invention is to provide in a machine for cleaningcotton and the like generally improved means to remove the impuritiesfrom the cotton fibers.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved means ofmounting the adjustable bars in the beater casing kof a machine forcleaning cotton and the like.

'A further objectof vthe invention is to provide in a cotton cleaningmachine an improved means for mounting the grating and devicesassociated therewith to the `end that the impuritieslodging in thegrating may be readily and effectively removed when desired Otherobjects and advantages will appear in the description to follow and willbe pointed out in the annexed claims.

In the drawings- F igureA 1' is a sectional elevation of a cott0n openerembodying the invention;

Figs. 2 and -3 are sectional elevations of similar machines showingmodified forms of the invention;

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view illustrative of the mounting of thebars in the beater cylinder; and

Fig. 5 is a detail elevational view of Fig. 4.

lReferring to these drawings and particularly to Fig. 1, cotton in thelap as indicated by reference a is carried by a suitable conveyer 7 to apair of feed rolls 8 which carry the lap therebetween to a beater casing9. The beater bar 10 is rotatably mount- 'ed and coperates withadjustable bars 11 in the usual manner. A passage 12 leads from thebeater casing to an exhaust cylinder 13, which is of the usualperforated drum construction and is mounted and driven in a manner wellknown by those skilled in thel art. A passage 14 connects the interiorof cylinder 13 to a pipe 15 which in .turn is connected to a suitablepower driven fan 16. The latter is arranged to exhaust cylinder 13 andto create a draft through the beater casing and passage 12 toward theexhaust cylinder in the usual manner.

Below the feed rolls 8 and adjustable bars 11 is a chamber 17, which isarranged to receive the heavier impurities in the cotton. Adjacentchamber 17 and below the beater casing 9 is a chamber 18 which isadapted to receive dust and other relatively light impurities from thecotton. At the top of chamber 18 is a screen 19 which constitutes thelower part of the beater casing. From the chamber 18, a passage 20extends in upwardly `inclined relation toward the exhaust cylinder 13and is connected by 'a downwardly inclined passage 21 to a chamber 22below cylinder 13. The upper wall of passage 21 terminates closelyadjacent cylinder 13 and only a relatively small passage 23 is lefttherebetween which extends to thedescribed passage 12. It will thus beseen that the suction from fan 16 also produces a suction through thepassage 20. The air drawn in through beater bars 11, therefore, travelsvin a divided path, some through passage 12 and some through screen 19and passages 20 and 21. In order to regulate the draft created in theupper part of chamber 18, a pivoted damper 24 1s mounted 4adjacent theintersection of pas-l sage 20 with the chamber 18. Damper 24 may be heldin various positions of adjustment by any suitable means, such, forexample, as a Slotted arm 25, fixed on the pivot rod of the damper onthe outside of the casing and removablyr held in position by a suitablebolt as indicated.

Above the exhaust cylinder 13 and movable'closely adjacent thereto is arelatively large operatlve relation with the latter is a smaller pickerroll 28. Beyond rolls 27 and 28 is a passage 30 which leads to avertically arranged pipe 31. A sector plate 32, mounted to swingindependently on the axis of cylinder` 13 and movable closelyvadjacentthe inner periphery of the latter, may be held invarious positions ofadjustment by a slotted arm 33 and a suitable bolt connection to theframe of the machine. Plate 32 may be moved in an obvious manner toclose off a certain portion of the perforations in cylinder 13 and itsprimary function to release the cotton from cylinder 13 at the propertime to the picker rolls 27 and 28. Thelatter are arranged to throw thecotton liber in loosened condition tol pipe 31 through which the fiberis carried to another` point or to another machine in a manner fullypointed out and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 157,602filed March 27, 1917.

In certain instances, the cotton is to be transferred in lap form ratherthan automaticallyv in loosened condition as described. To accomplishthis purpose, a second exhaust cylinder 35 is arranged above cylinder13, as shown in Fig. 2, and is connected by a passage 36 to the pipe 15.The distance between adjacent portions of cylinders 13 and 35 issubstantially equal to the thickness of the lap desired. The cottonopener shown in Fig. 2 ,is otherwise generally similar to that shown inFig. 1, except that a grating or grid 37 is mounted in the lower part ofpassage 12. Grating 37 functions in the 4usual manner to receive betweenits bars any dirt or other impurities which may fall from the cottonfibers.

The grating 37 is, however, mounted in an improved manner. The grating37 is pivoted at one end at 38 to the casing and at the other end has asuitable handle as shown, whereby the grating may bc swung upwardly. Topermit access to the grating for this purpose, a hinged cover 39 is'provided in the upper wall of passage 12. The screen 19 is alsopreferably hinged `as" indicated at 40. Thus, when screen 19 and grating37 are raised, the dirt and otherimicker roll 27 and below and in co-lpurities remaining belowv the grating may be conveniently brushed towardthe beater casing and into the'chamber 18.

The cotton opener illustrated in Fig. 3 is substantially similar to thatshown in Figs. 1 and 2. The variation from the opener shown in Fig. 2,consists in using a grating 41 similar in function to the describedgrating 27 but constructed in a different manner. The grating 41 is notmovable for cleaning purposes as described but is provided with achamber 42 therebelow into which the impurities collected in the gratingmay fall. At the bottom of chamber 42 is a hinged door 43 which isnormally held closedv by an arm 44 fixed on a rod 45. Also secured tothe latter is al weighted arm 46 which acts in an obvious manner to holdthe door 43 in closed position. By lifting arm 46, door 43 is allowed todrop and discharge the contents into the passageway 20. The latter isnecessarily lowered to provide for chamber 42 but otherwise functions asbefore. The damper 24 is also arranged in a slightly different mannerbut is adjustable as before to vary the suction through screen 19.Damper 24, when 'vertically positioned, is arranged to leave an openspace between it and the left hand wall of chamber 18v so that the finedirt falling from chamber 42 may pass therethrough into chamber 18. Theinclination of passage 20 is made somewhat greater than that shown inFigs. 1 and 2 to facilitate the passage of the dirt along the passage 21into chamber 18. 4

It will be noted that in Figs. 2 and 3, certain parts have been slightlychanged from the positions shown in Fig. 1 without, however, alteringthe functions of the parts. Thus, in Figs. 2 and 3,'the passages 21 and23 are slightly altered, but they still constitute downwardly andupwardly extending passages to connect passage 20 to the chamber 22 andpassage 12 respectively. The pipe 15 in Fi s. 2 and 3 is connected tothe fan 16 by a s ort horizontal pipe 47 rather than directly as in Fig.1.

The bars 11 in the beater casing are adjustable in an improved manner,and this adjustment is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Each grid bar 11 ispivoted at its ends at 48 to a pair of spaced plates 49, one only ofwhich is shown in Figs. 4 and 5. Each plate 49 is connected to the innerwall of the side walls A of the casing by a pair of bolts 50. Plates 49have slots to receive the bolts whereby the plates may be moved radiallytoward or away from ythe beaterbars 10. Thus'all of the bars 11 may besimultaneously operated to accomplish the radial adjustment. Inadditiomeach bar 11 is independently adjustable to vary its angularrclation to the beaterbar. .On each side. of each bar 11 is ay slotted`radius arm 51 which is held to plate 49 by a screw 52 passing through`the curved slot in the arm. It Willpthus be seen that each bar 11 maybe independently moved to various positions of impurities therein, andthese impurities fall directly through the openings between bars 11 intothe chamber 17; The cotton fiber in loosened condition is carriedthrough the beater casing and passage 12 by the suction created by fan16. As the fibers travel over screen 19, other relatively lightimpurities therein may fall through the screen 'and the fibers arefurthermore subjected not only to the suction through passage 12, butalso to a downward suction,which latter suction aids in the removal ofthe relatively light impur-ities. These impurities passing throughscreen 19 have a straight gravity drop into the chamber 18.

Vith the impurities a certain amount of lint is carried through thescreen although the meshes of the latter are sufficiently fine toprevent any large part of the cotton fiber itselffrom passingtherethrough. This lint is customarily mixed with the impurities, andthe mixture is of little or no value, some.- times being sold at a verylow cost per pound. With the described structure, the lint beingexceedingly light, `is carried b v suction into the passage 20. Thesuction effective to thus carry the lint is regulable by damper 24 andis not sufiicient to carrv the ydirt and other impurities with. thelint. y The impurities, being heavy relatively as compared with thelint, fall to the bottom of chamber 18. Neither is the suctionsufficient to prevent the effective passage of the cotton fibers to theexhaust cylinders through passage 12, although it does act in oppositionto the main suction at the screen 19. The arrangement to subject thecotton to opposite forces is useful in loosening and agitatino' thefibers so that the impurities may be efficiently extracted therefrom.'

The lint drawn through screen 19 is thus separated from the majorportion of the impurities and is deflected into the passage 20. Asthelint travels through passage 20, further opportunity is afforded forseparation of impurities therefrom by a gravity action due to the upwardinclination of the passage toward theexhaust cylinders. At the end ofpassage 20, the light lint is drawn to the periphery of exhaust cylinder13, while the remaining impurities therein tend to fall intol thedownwardly inclined passage 21 into chamber 22.

The cotton fibers travel through passage 12 in much the usual manner,and, when the gratings 37 and 41 are used as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, anyimpurities in the fibers passing through main passage 12 willlodge inthe gratings from whence they may be removed from time to time asalready set forth. The fibers are drawn to the exhaust cylinder 13 andare met by and mixed with the lint collected upon lower travel ofcylinder 13 as described. The lint is carried in a fine layer on theperiphery of exhaust cylinder 13 and travels freely through the upwardlydirected passage 23. The lint and cotton fibers thus mixed together arecarried by exhaust cylinder 13 in under a similar cylinder 35 and by thecoaction of the cylinders are brought into lap form in the usual manner.

The lint may be transferred to another point without first bringing itinto lap form. When this is desired, the machine shown in Fig. 1 isused, wherein the cylinder 13 carries the mixed lint and cotton fibersto coacting picker wheels 27 and 28. .The latter re- ?move the cottonfrom cylinder 13, break it up again, and throw it through pipe 30 into avertical pipe 31. The shutter 32 closes olf thesuction through theperforations of the exhaust cylinder 13 at locations where such suctionis unnecessary and releases the layer of cotton on the cylinder from theholding force of the suction at the proper time to be engaged by thepicker wheel 28. Shutter 32, being adjustable, may be moved to vary thepoint on the periphery at which the cotton is released and, if moved,beyond the contacting part of wheel 28, will relieve the work on thewheel. This adjustment is of importance in varying the effectiveness ofthe picking off operation for different grades of' cotton as required.

The cotton thrown into pipe 31 is carried 'in vloosened condition toanother point as dis- 'closed and claimed in the above identifiedcopending application.

Thus, I have provided a machine for cleaning fibers such as cotton fiberor the like, for example, wherein the lint withdrawn from the cot-ton inmixed condition with the impurities may be separated and removedtherefrom. The main invention, therefore, is characterized moreparticularly by providing means forv the reclamation of the lint lwhichhas heretofore been lost and by the improved utilization of the lint byconveying it to and mixing it with the cotton fibers.

The invention has been described in a preferred form with detailedvariations for the purposes of illustration. The scope of the inventionis, however, defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing'description- Vhat I claim is- 1. In a machine for cleaning cotton andthe like, a casing to which cot-ton is supplied,

agitating means therein to loosen and separate the fibers, means toconvey the loosened fibers through the casing, means to Aremoveimpurities from the fibers as they pass through the latter, and meansproviding a distinct path for separating from the removed impurities thelint therein.

2; In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a casing to whichcotton is supplied, agitating means therein to loosen and separate thefibers, means to convey the loosened fibers through the casing, means toremove impurities from the fibers as they pass through the latter, andmeans providing a distinct path for separating the lint Vfrom theremoved impurities whereby it is conveyed to a desired point ,in thecasing.v

3. In amachine for cleaning cotton and the like, a casing to whichcotton 1s supplied, agitating means therein to loosen and separate thelfibers, means to convey the loosened fibers through the casing, means toremove impurities from the fibers as they pass through the latter, andmeans to separate the lint from the removed impurities and convey it toand mix it with the cleaned cotton in the casing.

4. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,revoluble beater bars therein, other bars with which the beater barscoperate to loosen and agitate the fibers, a screen inV said.casingthrough which impurities in the fibers may fall, and

means toseparate the lint from the impurities as they fall through saidscreen.

v 5. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,revoluble beater bars therein, other bars with which the beater barscoperate to loosen and agitate the fibers, an exhaust cylinder, means toconvey the fibers thereto, a screen in the beater casing, through whichimpurities may fall, means to remove lint from the impurities as theyfall from said screen and to convey the lint to the exhaust cylinder,Whereby the lint may be mixed with the cotton fibers.

6. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,beater bars therein arranged to agitate and loosen the fibers of thecotton, a screen associated with said casing, an exhaust cylinder,suction means, a passage from the latter to the beater casing wherebythe cotton may be drawn to the exhaust cylinder, a passage from saldmeans extending to and below the screen, and a dust chamber below thelatter and the lastnamed passage, all constructed and arranged so thatthe lint and impurities passing through the screen are separated and theformer is conveyed to the exhaust cylinder.

7. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,beater arms therein arranged to agitate and loosen the fibers of thecotton, a screen associated with the casing through which lint andimpurities may fall in mixed condition, a chamber to receive theimpurities, and means to create a draft passing below said screen andabove the chamber to separate and remove the lint from the impurities.

8. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,beater arms therein arranged toagitate and loosen the fibers' IScreenassociated wit-h the casing through which impurities may pass, a chamberto receive the impurities, means to create a draft4 -across the upperpart of the chamber and below the screen, whereby the lint may 'beseparated from the impurities, and a passage through which the lint maybe conveyed bysaid last named means, and means to vary the draft createdby the latter.

10. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like a beater casing,agitating means therein to loosen the fibers of the cotton, a4

screen associated with the casing through which impurlties may pass, achamber to recelve the impuritles, meansv to create a draft across theupper part of the chamber and'below the screen, whereby the lint may beseparated from the impurities, andV a passage upwardly inclined from thecham,- ber, through which the lint may be conveyed by said last namedmeans, and means to vary the draft created by the latter.

11. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,agitating means vtherein to loosen the fibers of the cotton, a

screen associated with the casing through which impurities may pass, achamber to receive the impurities, an exhaust cylinder, means to conveythe cotton thereto, means to create a draft across the upper part of thechamber and below the screen, whereby the lint may be separated from theimpurities, and a passage extending from the chamber to the exhaustcylinder, through which the lint may be conveyed by said last-namedmeans to the exhaust cylinder, a dust chamber below the latter, adownwardly inclined passage from the first-named passage to thelast-named chamber through which impurities in the lint may fall to thelatter.

12. In a machine for cleaning cotton and the like, a beater casing,revoluble beater arms therein, a screen in said casing, a dust chamberbelow the latter, a source of suetion at a distance from the beatercasing, and divided passages from said means to the beater casing,beginning respectively above and below said screen, all constructed andarranged for `the conveyance of cotton fibers from the beater casing byone passage and for the separation of-llnt from the im- 10 puritiesfalling into said chamber and for the shunting of the separated lint bythe other passage to the stream of cotton fibers,

JOHN OCONNELL.

